


i wanna dance with somebody (who loves me)

by Daten_Shi



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dancing, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Multiple Personalities, Tony Stark Cuddles, Winter Soldier as a Separate Personality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 12:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15461157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daten_Shi/pseuds/Daten_Shi
Summary: "Steve later told Tony that he knew it could only go two ways. They’d either hate each other and use their words to viciously tear each other apart, or they’d get on like a house on fire."





	i wanna dance with somebody (who loves me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TT_Angst_Queen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TT_Angst_Queen/gifts).



> Have a small ficlet I wrote for my friend's birthday!!
> 
> Thank you _so much_ to Mym and SmilingWitch for doing the beta on this, and checking to make sure it was a-okay!!
> 
> Title is from Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
> 
> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TARDIS!!! HERE'S YOUR WI FLUFF WITH MULTIPLE PERSONALITY WINTER SOLDIER!!

Steve later told Tony that he knew it could only go two ways. They’d either hate each other and use their words to viciously tear each other apart, or they’d get on like a house on fire. Tony and Bucky were too much alike for anything else to happen, and Tony and Winter’s shared history wouldn’t help at all.

Bucky and Tony snarked and flirted like they breathed: instinctually. Both had sore subjects, and subjects that were absolutely no-go, but they talked around them easily. The team could understand their dynamic, it wasn’t strange in the slightest.

Winter and Tony gave them pause though. It started with discussing the team’s weapons and gear, and improvements that could be made. At Winter’s request, Tony taught Winter about the arm until Winter knew it backwards and forwards. Tony understood needing to take something and make it his own. Tony appreciated Winter’s blunt way of speaking too. It was refreshing after all the business and political talk Tony had to deal with, as well as dealing with spies.

Winter was the first to realize he and Bucky were dating Tony. During movie nights, Tony would sprawl across one couch with Bucky or Winter, depending on who was in control at that moment, and usually end up with his head or his feet in their lap. Other times, he’d curl into their side and use their shoulder as a pillow. Their hand would usually find its way to Tony’s hair and stroked through it, and if Tony was tired enough, he’d fall asleep like that. Tony would drag them out to diners or coffee shops, or just to walk around outside when they couldn’t sleep, Bucky and Winter kept awake from nightmares or restlessness and Tony’s mind running a mile a minute, trying to avoid his _own_ nightmares. There was even one occasion where they danced with Tony. Winter was talking about his formal dance training, to better help blend in when he had a mission during a high society party.

“I miss it,” he had admitted. “It was one of the more enjoyable things I was allowed.”

Tony quirked an eyebrow and smirked. “You aren’t the only one here with formal dancing skills, you know Frosty. I grew up in that high society life.”

Winter stared at him for a long moment before matching his smirk and offering his hand. “May I have this dance?”

Laughing quietly, Tony hopped off the counter and took his hand, falling seamlessly into the follower’s part. FRIDAY began playing a waltz, and after a few seconds, Winter led Tony in a dance. There, in the middle of the kitchen at three in the morning, wearing socks and pajamas, they danced together.

When FRIDAY smoothly let the waltz flow into a tango, Winter adjusted easily, pulling Tony closer and giving the impression of a predator slowly stalking its prey. The tango turned into a foxtrot, and Tony switched gears as easily as Winter. Later, FRIDAY would show the video of them dancing around the kitchen, soft smiles on both faces.

The music bled back into a slow waltz. A few steps in, half-way through leading Tony in a turn, Bucky pulled Tony back against his chest. With their arms wrapped around Tony’s stomach, and Bucky’s chin resting on Tony’s shoulder, they swayed in the kitchen with the world quiet outside their bubble. The music FRIDAY played wasn’t anything made for formal dancing. There was no discernable steady beat, but it was soft and sweet. Bucky remembered thinking that he wanted to do this again every night for the rest of his life. Unknown to him, Tony thought the same.

That was the night Bucky realized they were dating Tony. After a chat with Winter via notebooks, and some questions to Pepper and Rhodey, Bucky and Winter realized they would have to inform Tony.

“If Tony realizes on his own,” Rhodey had said, “he is going to panic and then run.”

(That was just before Rhodey and Pepper threatened their intestines, reputations, and lives. In that order.)

Tony did in fact panic, but Winter held him close and crooned softly in his ear in Russian. He calmed down when he realized Winter and Bucky _wanted_ to date him, and he wasn’t accidentally dating them against their wills.

Two weeks into actively dating them, Tony realized something he hadn’t before. Winter and Bucky cuddled differently. It wasn’t something he set out to learn but noticing it was unavoidable.

Winter would hold him close, and practically wrap himself around Tony, as though he was trying to protect Tony from every direction. He’d rest his chin on Tony’s shoulder and wrap his arms around him, both when they were standing and when Tony was sitting on his lap. It made him feel safe and surrounded by warmth and love when he was enveloped in Winter’s embrace.

Bucky’s cuddling was more relaxed, though. He’d lay on the couch and tug Tony down to lay on top of him, letting Tony’s head rest over his heart. Bucky would tuck Tony into his side when they’d sit on the couch, and drape his arm across Tony’s shoulders. When they were walking around the city or standing in the kitchen for breakfast, his arm would be slung across Tony’s waist, hand resting on his hip. It didn’t make Tony feel surrounded and protected like Winter’s did, but it didn’t need to. It reminded him that he wasn’t alone, and he was loved.

When Bucky and Winter had first started living with the Avengers, Tony never thought he’d wind up dating them, but once he was, he couldn’t imagine being without them again. He loved them, and he knew they both loved him. People had said it was a strange arrangement (when they were being polite) and yeah, maybe it was. It worked for them, though. They were all happy, and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> This fic is also on tumblr here!!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always much appreciated!!


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